A Boy and His Monster
by InnocentGuilt
Summary: Once upon a time there was a boy named Xander, and he had a monster in his basement. AU, Spander, schmoop


A/N: Well, this is a product of being way too bored at work and having a cousin who's way too bored at the library. Long story short, I wrote her this story to keep us both entertained. It's uber sappy and sweet and oh boy, uber AU! Hope you like it though.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. Wish I did though.

.igigig.

Once upon a time there was a young boy named Xander, and he had a monster in his basement. He was never sure how the monster came to be there, or even how long the monster had been there. He only knew that the monster was there, and that he wasn't going to leave. And the fact that he wasn't going to leave made Xander really happy, because unlike monsters from fairy-tales and on T.V., his monster was nice and his monster liked to play with him.

Spike, was his monster's name, and during the day-because monsters don't sleep at night like silly humans-Spike slept on the old pull out couch his cousins always used when they stayed over. It wouldn't and had never been a problem, since the couch faced towards the wall. So even if Xander's mom stumbled downstairs, she had never had the mental cognizance to realize another thing was in the room, she probably wouldn't start now. Still, Xander tried to do all of the chores that might involve the basement, just in case…

At night, after he had done whatever his dad told him to do he would sneak down to the basement so that he could spend time with his monster. Sometimes Spike would be hiding, and Xander had to search until he found his monster in some dark corner of the room. It would always be a surprise if his monster would look like a human or like or the beast he hid within. Other times, Spike would lift him up with one hand, like a super-hero monster, and they would go outside, where Spike would hoist him further up onto his shoulder and let Xander pretend he was a parrot, while Spike had to do a pirate voice-he was really good at the pirate voice.

There were nights, several of them, when Spike would send him to hide under a bush or behind a really smelly garbage can and tell him not to move until Spike told him to-no one else. Xander always listened, unlike with his parents. Spike had made it very clear that if he said for Xander to hide it was because other monsters were coming to hurt him.

"Not all monsters are as good as ol' Spike, got it?" Xander had nodded, but it wasn't good enough. "What'd I say?"

Xander told him, "Not all monsters are as good as my Spike." That had earned him a hair ruffle, which meant he had pleased his monster.

If he was especially good, and Spike wasn't hurt or anything bad where he'd carry Xander home, make him lock the door and be gone until the next night-and those always scared Xander, because his monster wasn't allowed to be hurt!-Spike would take him to his poker games on Saturday, settle him on his lap and even let him hold the cards. He was allowed to meet a few of the other nice monsters, like Clem, and once he said he liked root beer and the next time he went there was an entire box of it just for him. Spike said he could only have one though, because 'hyper little whelps were bloody terrors who moved too much when tucking them into bed.'

When school was in session, he had to sleep some of the night. Spike said so. So he would go to bed extra early, just after he had scrounged to find enough peanut butter and honey for his dinner sandwich. And really late at night, his monster would climb up to his window and pull him out carefully before hopping back to the ground. They always came back a few hours before school started so he could get a bit more rest. Sometimes if he wasn't really that tired Spike would actually help him with his homework.

What made Spike a really special monster was that he listened to Xander, and he loved Xander. He never hurt Xander, not even when Xander was really bad-and Xander was really bad a lot, everyone except Willow and Spike thought so. Spike even went as far make sure his cuts and scrapes were properly taped up, his face showing his true monster self, not because he wanted to hurt Xander, but because he was mad at who had hurt his kid. He said, "No miscreant little roaches should hurt someone so special." He was usually talking about his mom and dad. Sometimes Xander wished that Spike would take him away, but then Xander probably wouldn't be able to see Willow or Jesse.

He wouldn't though. Spike had told him that he needed to stay in school and learn all he could learn. That they would go away one day, but he had to be grown up. "But I'll be here for you, whelp. Ain't gonna leave you alone. Made myself all nice and cozy in your basement." Xander had made Spike pinky promise, which his monster made a face at as he did it. Then afterwards, he pulled Xander into a tight hug and told him, "Never gone against a promise, mate."

As he grew older, Spike stayed, like promised and continued to take him out in the middle of the night, help him with his homework, and patch up any scrapes that bullies and sometimes even parents inflicted on him. He still played games with him, though the games changed and on poker nights he got his own chair with his own hand. After a while, Xander told Spike he was hungry, because there wasn't always enough edible food in his house. Spike had hefted Xander up over his shoulder as if he would faint at any second and promptly taken him to the closest 24 hour diner and paid with his poker winnings. They ended up going there so often over the next months, years that the owner only charged them once a week. He liked having his own monster.

So, Spike stayed his monster, and as he grew up with night-time escapades to meet other demons and learn how to spot the bad ones, he began to recognize that he was Spike's human as well. He began to understand that even though all the demons at poker night were really cool, they weren't necessarily the good kind for any human but him. He was beginning to notice the glares Spike sent if any of them, other than maybe Clem, looked at him for just a moment too long, the threatening growl if they stepped too close to him. He was Spike's human, and even though he was still picked on at school and his home-life wasn't great, being Spike's made him feel like the most important person in all the world.

The only thing that really bothered him is that he couldn't tell Willow or Jesse. They asked him why he looked so pale, or went to bed so early, and Jesse even asked once when he had gotten a tutor. He wanted to tell them about his monster, the one who was slowly teaching him how to locate monsters in the area so he would know if he was in danger. But Spike said, "Look here, pet. Your little friend's afraid of spiders, yeah?" When Xander nodded, he carried on. "You afraid of spiders?" Xander shook his head. "Just 'cause you ain't scared of this monster, don't mean others won't be, don't mean others shouldn't be, got it?"

He nodded again, "Yeah, Spike. I got it."

As he neared high school, Spike began to get really tense. When Xander asked about it, he would shrug like it was nothing, but Xander could practically see hackles rising. Xander began to feel himself tensing about it, too. Looking over his shoulder even in daylight when he knew the monsters couldn't really get him. Jesse said he was paranoid. Willow worried about his sleeping pattern. Spike told him not to let his guard down and to 'get your skinny arse home if you feel anything out of the ordinary, got it, whelp?'

Xander never had felt like things were stranger than having his very own monster in his basement and a poker game with a bunch of demons on Saturday nights. That still didn't make Spike any easier to deal with the first time he said he wanted to go to the Bronze with Willow and Jesse. His monster pitched a fit and stomped around, preaching about all the nasties in that place who would all love to eat nummies like him up. Xander slouched against a building, hands in his pocket as he watched his monster pace, yelled back that Spike, himself, had taught him what to look out for. In the end it was a mute point and it wasn't until he agreed to let Spike go with him that he was allowed to go. In a way, he was irritated because Spike was treating him like he couldn't take care of himself. In another, he was smug that Spike would finally have to meet his friends.

His monster proved to be almost more protective in an environment of humans and a few other demons than he was in a pit of his own kind. He shadowed Xander constantly, even when he tried to let him have his space. He would be out dancing-terribly, even he would admit-and a shock of bleach blond hair would catch his eyes from the corner of the dance floor, blue-gold eyes carefully tracking his movements.

Willow caught him once on the dance floor, awkward and a little out of her element and asked, "He's not, like, stalking you, is he?"

He shook his head, "Nah, just a bit overprotective."

She and Jesse still didn't know that Spike was his monster, but he had explained that he had been a part of his life for ages. He felt that was worth something.

Spike shadowed him to the Bronze any time he went, and as sophomore year approached Xander could practically feel the reluctance to even let him out of sight grow tangible. He found himself asking almost every night what was going on, and when in one day the new girl had dropped a stake, a body had been found in the women's locker with two holes in his neck, he had had enough. He pushed Spike against a tree, painting on his most serious face, and demanded Spike tell him what was going on.

"You live on the Hellmouth, pet. And it looks like Harvest Moon is right up on us."

Xander's world came plummeting around him when he went to the Bronze that night, Spike lingering in the shadows, and both Willow and Jesse went missing. His first and foremost reaction was to go running for Spike, his monster, who knew how much Willow and Jesse meant to him. He hadn't notice Buffy following until she went hurdling past him with a wooden stake in her hand. Spike let his demon show through, fangs dropping instantly as he pulled Xander behind him. Xander only blinked and Buffy was across the darkened area, Spike moving after her, onlookers completely oblivious to the display. Buffy kicked onto her feet, fist in front of her, ready to strike.

Xander struggled to stand between them, hand against Spike's chest. Babble was flowing out of his mouth faster than his mind could keep up with. He only stopped when Buffy went to move and Spike growled threateningly.

Xander stayed firmly in between the two of them, saying, "Whoa! Monster, friend. We like monster…" He reached up and petted Spike's bumpy face, which was probably not appreciated by Spike, but he wanted to get it through to Buffy. Buffy, who stared at him like he was a complete nutter.

"He's a vampire!" she shrieked, her eyes trained on his monster.

Spike growled as if to help reiterate her point. Xander nodded. "But a nice vampire."

She rolled her eyes, and stepped forward again. "Believe it when I see it."

Spike went to meet her, but Xander stepped in front of him, saying nicely, "Spike, please." The demon façade melted and left the kind, human face staring at him with exasperation.

Which was why Buffy was able to throw Xander aside and land a kick to Spike's jaw.

"Where are Willow and Jesse?" she growled reaching for another stake in the sleeve of her jacket.

She went to hit him again but he grabbed her by the throat, game face back, and sneered, "I don't know, Slayer, but if one hair on his head is hurt, you will regret it." He dropped her to the ground and came back for Xander helping him up, though he really wasn't hurt.

He shook his head to clear it of the situation, going back to the original matter at hand. "Willow and Jesse are missing! Spike…" His monster petted his hair with a quick nod before he scented the air and took off towards the back of the Bronze, Xander and Buffy following right on his heels.

Willow they managed to save. Jesse…Xander had to kill him, because he was a bad monster. After everything was done and Spike had helped to stop the Master from rising, he didn't even stop to glare at Buffy. Xander didn't stop to explain to anyone how he knew Spike or why he trusted him so much. He let Spike take him by the hand and lead him back to the basement that had been so much of Xander's life since he discovered his monster all those years ago. He let Spike hold him like he was still five and listened to the soothing Cockney accent whisper useless words into his hair until he fell asleep.

Buffy wasn't supportive of his attachment to Spike, but after she found out that Angel, her own intel source that she had a crush on, was also a vampire, even a souled one, she laid off. Xander, however, automatically hated Angel the second he found out that he was Spike's Grandsire, and that he had abandoned Spike to live with crazy Drusilla-Xander had learned when he was thirteen not to ask about her-who hurt him over and over again. Okay, so it was a good thing that Angel had been cursed with a soul, because he hadn't been a good monster like his Spike. Of course, when Xander had gone on a crusade about that, Giles brought up the fact that Spike was only a good monster for him, only stopped killing about ten years ago, when Xander had found him in his basement.

Xander didn't know how to take that for a while. Asked Spike to let him have a few days to digest all of that and at the end of it, when it all boiled down to one question, he asked, "Do you still kill people? Do you make bad monsters that friends have to kill?"

Spike quirked a brow at the small voice that asked the question before he looked at him long and hard, looked pained when he said, "I haven't killed anyone in eight years. Haven't made any fledges in twelve."

Xander nodded, feeling younger than he did even when he met the vampire. "So you really are a good monster?"

Spike quirked a small smile. "I'm your good monster, luv."

When Xander came to a Scooby meeting with Spike in tow, no one said anything, though he could tell Buffy and Angel were a little put out. Giles looked at Spike speculatively, as if sending a silent promise to dust the vampire if he sneezed at Xander wrong. Willow, who he had finally explained _everything_ to, just smiled and waved at them happily. Spike kept close to Xander, far from Buffy and his Sire, and helped everyone with his almost endless demon information-there had been a huge squabble when everyone found out he had been taking Xander to demon poker games since he was six. He helped them take down the First, and when they found him, he personally killed the Anointed. Everything was good.

And then Angel lost his soul. Xander found out firsthand how bad a bad vampire could really be as Angel stalked, tormented, and killed at his own leisure. Spike would hardly let him out of his sight, not even in the day, finding the one demon who could keep an eye on the school. When Buffy went to the hospital and Xander stayed with her nearly around the clock, Spike was with him, staying out of the sunlight during day, and prowling ominously at night. When Angel came to the hospital, the entirety of Sunnydale Hospital nearly found out about the supernatural living right under their noses.

Spike only kept his composure because Xander was right next to him, staring down Angel with equal calm. Angel left in a snit and it was only after he realized that he had been grasping his monster's hand in a death grip. They helped Buffy get the kids out of Death's reach. Spike even talked the kids down from hysterics. That night, after seeing Spike the way he had always been to Xander, Buffy, drug-addled and stumbling, admitted that Spike was a good monster.

When Angel killed Jenny, even though everyone had been giving her the cold shoulder, even Spike, who was outraged that the 'damn stupid gypsies never had the common sense to warn the world at large that the bloody poof couldn't have a happy,' a slip-slide started. Everyone was on edge when they realized their Watcher had gone missing, and when they found him Spike and Xander had taken Giles to safety while Buffy fought her lover-turned-enemy. When she came back, Angel having escaped her again, they left her and her mentor alone holding each other and sharing the pain. Xander didn't go back to his room that night. Spike laid down on the couch that still faced the wall and Xander stayed in his arms, letting to cool seep into his overheated skin.

Spike found out about the spell to bring Angel's soul back and, though he threw a massive fit about having to shove a soul on a demon and curse a creature to burn for all its unnatural life, he helped Willow decode the inscriptions and taught her how to properly pronounce the words she would need. When Xander asked him why he would do that if he thought it was unnatural, he ran his hand through Xander's short hair, "I wouldn't bloody well want anyone to kill the one they loved above all else, even if he was a mass murdering git." And when Xander stared at him, it wasn't Angel that they were talking about. He leaned in closer and pressed his lips to Spike's, hand holding on tight to the same arms that had carried him around like a super-hero monster when he was young.

.igigig.

InnocentGuilt


End file.
